IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/emfitr/v47y2011i0p40-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technical Efficiency and the Role of ICT: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Sophia P. Dimelis
  • Sotiris K. Papaioannou

Abstract

This paper investigates for possible effects of information and communication technology (ICT) in reducing aggregate technical inefficiency. A translog stochastic production frontier is simultaneously estimated with a technical inefficiency model across a panel of forty-two countries in 1993-2001. Strong evidence is provided for a significant impact of ICT in reducing country inefficiencies. Further evidence indicates a significantly positive ICT impact on labor productivity, while it seems that a substitute relationship between ICT and non-ICT capital exists. Based on the model's estimates, the most efficient country in the sample is the United States, followed by India, and a number of other developed countries. Overall, developed countries operate closer to the world frontier.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophia P. Dimelis & Sotiris K. Papaioannou, 2011. "Technical Efficiency and the Role of ICT: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(0), pages 40-53, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:emfitr:v:47:y:2011:i:0:p:40-53
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://mesharpe.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=E5685272H2785288
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bresnahan, Timothy F. & Trajtenberg, M., 1995. "General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 83-108, January.
    2. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabrizio Adriani, 2005. "Does the digital divide matter? The role of information and communication technology in cross-country level and growth estimates," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 435-453.
    3. Thompson, Herbert Jr. & Garbacz, Christopher, 2007. "Mobile, fixed line and Internet service effects on global productive efficiency," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 189-214, June.
    4. Feenstra, Robert C & Markusen, James R, 1994. "Accounting for Growth with New Inputs," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(2), pages 429-447, May.
    5. Feenstra, Robert C & Markusen, James R & Zeile, William, 1992. "Accounting for Growth with New Inputs: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 415-421, May.
    6. Pedroni, Peter, 2004. "Panel Cointegration: Asymptotic And Finite Sample Properties Of Pooled Time Series Tests With An Application To The Ppp Hypothesis," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 597-625, June.
    7. Bart van Ark & Robert Inklaar & Robert H. McGuckin, 2003. "ICT and Productivity in Europe and the United States Where Do the Differences Come From?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(3), pages 295-318.
    8. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Robert J. Gordon, 2000. "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 49-74, Fall.
    10. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    11. Paul Schreyer, 2000. "The Contribution of Information and Communication Technology to Output Growth: A Study of the G7 Countries," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2000/2, OECD Publishing.
    12. Byungtae Lee & Anitesh Barua, 1999. "An Integrated Assessment of Productivity and Efficiency Impacts of Information Technology Investments: Old Data, New Analysis and Evidence," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 21-43, August.
    13. J. Bradford De Long & Lawrence H. Summers, 1991. "Equipment Investment and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 445-502.
    14. Roghieh Gholami & Sang‐Yong Tom Lee & Almas Heshmati, 2006. "The Causal Relationship Between Information and Communication Technology and Foreign Direct Investment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 43-62, January.
    15. L. Becchetti & David Bedoya & L. Paganetto, 2003. "ICT Investment, Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence at Firm Level Using a Stochastic Frontier Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 143-167, September.
    16. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    17. O'Mahony, Mary & Robinson, Catherine & Vecchi, Michela, 2008. "The impact of ICT on the demand for skilled labour: A cross-country comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1435-1450, December.
    18. Amsden, Alice H., 1992. "Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195076035.
    19. Carlo Milana & Alessandro Zeli, 2002. "The Contribution of ICT to Production Efficiency in Italy: Firm-Level Evidence Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Econometric Estimations," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2002/13, OECD Publishing.
    20. Alexandre Repkine, 2008. "Ict Penetration And Aggregate Production Efficiency: Empirical Evidence For A Cross-Section Of Fifty Countries," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 3(2(4)_Summ).
    21. Gust, Christopher & Marquez, Jaime, 2004. "International comparisons of productivity growth: the role of information technology and regulatory practices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 33-58, February.
    22. Kutlu, Levent, 2010. "Battese-coelli estimator with endogenous regressors," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 79-81, November.
    23. repec:dgr:rugccs:200311 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Chris Milner & Thomas Weyman–Jones, 2003. "Relative National Efficiency and Country Size: Evidence for Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, February.
    25. Ark, Bart van & Inklaar, Robert & McGuckin, Robert H., 2003. "ICT and productivity in Europe and the United States," CCSO Working Papers 200311, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research.
    26. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    27. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    28. Mary O'Mahony & Michela Vecchi, 2005. "Quantifying the Impact of ICT Capital on Output Growth: A Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(288), pages 615-633, November.
    29. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    30. Kanta Marwah & Lawrence Klein, 1996. "Capital Inflow and Economic Growth," Carleton Economic Papers 96-04, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 1998.
    31. World Bank, 2003. "World Development Indicators 2003," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13920.
    32. Robert Summers & Alan Heston, 1991. "The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950–1988," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 327-368.
    33. Lee C. Adkins & Ronald L. Moomaw & Andreas Savvides, 2002. "Institutions, Freedom, and Technical Efficiency," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(1), pages 92-108, July.
    34. Richard Kneller & Philip Andrew Stevens, 2006. "Frontier Technology and Absorptive Capacity: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(1), pages 1-21, February.
    35. Ruwan Jayasuriya & Quentin Wodon, 2005. "Measuring and Explaining the Impact of Productive Efficiency on Economic Development," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 121-140.
    36. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    37. Alessandra Colecchia & Paul Schreyer, 2002. "ICT Investment and Economic Growth in the 1990s: Is the United States a Unique Case? A Comparative Study of Nine OECD Countries," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(2), pages 408-442, April.
    38. Aigner, Dennis & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Peter, 1977. "Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 21-37, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Humphrey M. Sabi & Faith-Michael E. Uzoka & Kehbuma Langmia & Felix N. Njeh & Clive K. Tsuma, 0. "A cross-country model of contextual factors impacting cloud computing adoption at universities in sub-Saharan Africa," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    2. BASHAYREH, Ala’ & ALOMARI, Mohammad W., 2021. "Analyzing The Technical Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis Method: The Case Of Gulf Cooperation Council Countries," Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 25(3), pages 44-55, September.
    3. Emilio Abad-Segura & Mariana-Daniela González-Zamar & Eloy López-Meneses & Esteban Vázquez-Cano, 2020. "Financial Technology: Review of Trends, Approaches and Management," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-37, June.
    4. Ndubuisi, Gideon & Otioma, Chuks & Owusu, Solomon & Tetteh, Godsway Korku, 2022. "ICTs quality and technical efficiency: An empirical analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10).
    5. Hiranya K. Nath & Lirong Liu, 2012. "Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Trade in Emerging Market Economies," Working Papers 1205, Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business.
    6. Humphrey M. Sabi & Faith-Michael E. Uzoka & Kehbuma Langmia & Felix N. Njeh & Clive K. Tsuma, 2018. "A cross-country model of contextual factors impacting cloud computing adoption at universities in sub-Saharan Africa," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 1381-1404, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dimelis, Sophia P. & Papaioannou, Sotiris K., 2011. "ICT growth effects at the industry level: A comparison between the US and the EU," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 37-50, March.
    2. Federico Biagi, 2013. "ICT and Productivity: A Review of the Literature," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2013-09, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Pieri, Fabio & Vecchi, Michela & Venturini, Francesco, 2018. "Modelling the joint impact of R&D and ICT on productivity: A frontier analysis approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1842-1852.
    4. Nitin Arora & Ishfaq Ali Ganaie, 2023. "How Much Technically Efficient Is The South Asian Region? An Intra-Regional Comparison Among Its Affiliates," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 24(1), pages 20-40, March.
    5. Young Bong Chang & Vijay Gurbaxani, 2013. "An Empirical Analysis of Technical Efficiency: The Role of IT Intensity and Competition," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 561-578, September.
    6. Wang, Miao & Wong, M. C. Sunny, 2012. "International R&D Transfer and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from Panel Study Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1982-1998.
    7. Aboal D. & Tacsir E., 2015. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing : The role of ICT investment," MERIT Working Papers 2015-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Md Shahiduzzaman & Allan Layton & Khorshed Alam, 2015. "On the contribution of information and communication technology to productivity growth in Australia," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 281-304, November.
    9. Papaioannou, Sotiris K., 2023. "ICT and economic resilience: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Gunnarsson, Gudmundur & Mellander, Erik & Savvidou, Eleni, 2004. "Human capital is the key to the IT productivity paradox," Working Paper Series 2004:13, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    11. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Sang-Yong Tom Lee & Xiao Jia Guo, 2004. "Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Spillover: A Panel Analysis," Econometric Society 2004 Far Eastern Meetings 722, Econometric Society.
    13. Diego Aboal & Ezequiel Tacsir, 2018. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing: the role of ICT," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(2), pages 221-241.
    14. Lach, Saul & Trajtenberg, Manuel & Shiff, Gil, 2008. "Together but Apart: ICT and Productivity Growth in Israel," CEPR Discussion Papers 6732, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Liao, Hailin & Wang, Bin & Li, Baibing & Weyman-Jones, Tom, 2016. "ICT as a general-purpose technology: The productivity of ICT in the United States revisited," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 10-25.
    16. Ketteni, Elena & Mamuneas, Theofanis & Stengos, Thanasis, 2011. "The Effect Of Information Technology And Human Capital On Economic Growth," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(5), pages 595-615, November.
    17. Gust, Christopher & Marquez, Jaime, 2004. "International comparisons of productivity growth: the role of information technology and regulatory practices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 33-58, February.
    18. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    19. Edquist, Harald & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Swedish lessons: How important are ICT and R&D to economic growth?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-12.
    20. Bart van Ark & Robert Inklaar & Robert H. McGuckin, 2003. "ICT and Productivity in Europe and the United States Where Do the Differences Come From?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(3), pages 295-318.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mes:emfitr:v:47:y:2011:i:0:p:40-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MREE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.